How Does It Taste?
by sakuramae
Summary: Integra's curious thought has brought her to the gloomy basement, where her vampire resided.


**Author's note:** The drabble was a prompt from my 100 themes project. This is probably my first fic of this pairing, though I'm not sure why, since I find both characters really fascinating.

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Blood.

It had occurred to Integra that it must have a sort of flavor which entices the monstrous vampires so. She could not fathom the attraction, especially as a human, where nutrients tend to come from a variety of places. Humans had their choice of delicacies. Vampires and ghouls always seem to want blood and nothing else.

Hellsing Organization's pet vampire seemed to revel when he bathed in blood. More so when it was after a hard battle. Not that most battles for Alucard were difficult to begin with. Still, he did have his own morbid amusements.

One of which was sitting on his throne in his cold basement room, almost sedentary if not for the gentle swills of his wine glass. The wine glass halfway filled with crimson red liquid. To anyone ignorant in believing him human, it would look like a regular celebratory toast that involved quality red wine.

But everyone in the Hellsing Organization knew the truth; it would be folly to think otherwise. A fatal mistake would be entering Alucard's chambers before he had feasted. Sure, he might have been tamed to the fullest by the sternest dominion of the Hellsing family, but there were no taking chances. Even the current head had her hands full of the former Impaler.

It was the thought of the vampires' diets that stirred Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing down to the basement. Whether or not Alucard had finished his drinking would not matter; Alucard did not dare lay a finger on his Hellsing masters. Certainly not the tall and terrible beauty who intrigued him.

"What brings you here tonight, Countess?" Alucard asked, using an honorific that Integra had preferred he didn't. "Did you want to offer me dessert?"

She watched him silently. When he didn't move from the center of the room, she slowly approached, letting it be known that she wasn't there to play games. Integra never played games.

"Have you ever considered a change in diet, Alucard?" she asked him, leaning on the table, the only other furniture in his room. "I'm sure blood can't be all that healthy for you."

The vampire chuckled and swilled his wine glass a few times, Integra watching the fluid movement of the thick, red liquid. Alucard lifted his arm and held the glass up at her. "My tastes crave nothing but. You are free to try, Master. This one's fresh from battle, it's delicious."

"No, thanks," she took care not to show her disgust at the offer. Integra had tasted blood before in the heat of battle; it was not something she'd care to do too often if she could help it. "I don't particularly want to know where you managed to procure fresh human blood packs either. You're always being difficult. What's wrong with what I have Walter give you anyway?"

"If you lived for as long as I have, Countess, you'd be as much of a connoisseur."—here he gave her a sly smile—"Of course, you could easily live for as long as I have, if you'll let me have you."

Sir Integral was a creature of habit, and she had practiced hiding her emotions well in order to keep the mystery of her character to herself. But it was doubly important to do so in order to dissuade the most powerful vampire from triumphing. Integra had to admit that there was a part of her that may have craved the excitement—not that her organization needed anything new to occupy it. Still, she kept her face composed. "You wouldn't like my blood, Count."

"Ah, ah," he refuted her, still smiling with wickedness. "Perhaps you've forgotten, but I have had a sample of your blood."

She remembered it well. Integra could not have forgotten it, even if she wanted to. It was their first meeting. It was Alucard's first taste of blood in over 20 years. In a vampiric sense, he had been her first kiss.

But she wouldn't admit that to him. Instead, Hellsing's leader wordlessly turned from him and began to head back up to her room.

Integra paused when Alucard addressed her. "Don't you want to know what you tasted like?"

Silence. Though Integra stood there, her back facing the vampire, expectantly.

"Death," he said finally. "It was the most delicious thing I've tasted in centuries."

She left him chuckling to himself.


End file.
